Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it. - Lloyd Alexander

Happy Birthday Lloyd Alexander!

Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five high fantasy novels whose conclusion, The High King, was awarded the 1969 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. He won National Book Awards for children's literature in 1971 and 1982.

Alexander was one creator of the children's literary magazine Cricket.

Scotland's Secret Book Artist

A graffiti artist called Banksy became famous around the globe in the 1990s after secretly leaving his art work on walls across London. Now Scotland has its own secret artist.

Keith Wallace reports from Edinburgh on the delicate sculptures made from books which have been appearing in cultural establishments across the city.

Swans have an air of being proud, stupid, and mischievous - three qualities that go well together. -- Diderot

Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during theEnlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie.

Diderot also contributed to literature, notably with Jacques le fataliste et son maître (Jacques the Fatalist and his Master), which emulatedLaurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding novels and their structure and content, while also examining philosophical ideas aboutfree will. Diderot is also known as the author of the dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew), upon which many articles and sermons about consumer desire have been based. His articles included many topics of the Enlightenment.

Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. - Lewis Carroll

10 Most Anticipated Book Adaptations of 2012

Well, between The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit, and Great Expectations I hope they do a few of 'em justice at least.

Huge 25% Off Sale on All Books Between $50 and $200

Take advantage of this limited time sale, we just discounted everything that was priced between $50 and $200 by 25%!

Signed Conan Doyle book donated to Thame Oxfam shop

A limited edition novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle signed by the author has turned up at a charity shop in Oxfordshire.

The 109-year-old limited edition of White Company was among a pile of books donated to the Oxfam Bookshop in Thame.

Along with it were a further eight volumes from a set of 13 by the Sherlock Holmes author.

Manager Dick Jennens, who has been in the book trade for 45 years, said he was "really excited" about the find.

"We had a lot of donations just before Christmas but these were particularly noticeable because the volumes we received were bound in a red cloth with gilt lettering so they stood out," said Mr Jennens, who has run the bookshop since it opened nearly 11 years ago.

"Then we realised the author was Arthur Conan Doyle so we were a little bit more interested at that point."

Mr Jennens handed the books to one of the shop's volunteer experts, who found the books were part of a 13 volume limited edition of 1,000 copies published in 1903, which the White Company issued as a signed copy.

Continue reading the main story

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We have put a price tag on it at the moment which we believe is fair”

Dick JennensShop manager

He said: "The disappointing bit about it was that the full set was 13 volumes but we only have nine."

It is not known who donated the books.

The signed volume, which is numbered 95 of 1,000, has been put up for sale for £750, while the other eight books are being offered at £75 each.

"We may well auction it," said Mr Jennens. "We have put a price tag on it at the moment which we believe is fair. If it does not sell we will put it on an auction."

It is not the first time that an unusual or valuable book has been brought to the store.

'Full of gems'

Mr Jennens, said: "The most unusual was a book of autographs from the mid 19th century that had autographs from the president of the USA at the time as well as Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens.

"The person who donated it was going to throw it in the skip. That raised £11,000 and we came to an agreement with the donor about that one."

Other donations have included a first edition of George Orwell's Animal Farm and a Bible and prayer book from 1657 that were sold to Oxford's Bodleian Library.

The 500 sq ft charity shops stocks more than 9,000 titles and stores a further 2,000 which are for sale online.

Mr Jennens said: "It's fantastic - Thame is a small market town but we have got a wonderful little shop full of gems."

Postertext - A Full-Size Poster Created from the Text of Your Favorite Book

This one's from Peter Pan. What an awesome idea.

"The great objection to new books is that they prevent our reading of the old ones". by Joseph Joubert

Earthlight Books Needs More Google Reviews!

Hey gang of followers, can you do us a big favor and leave Earthlight Books some positive reviews on Google?


To leave Google ratings & reviews, you just need to:

1. search for "bookstore walla walla" and locate the Earthlight Books location listing near the top
2. then, click where it says "3 (or however many) google reviews"
3. once you're at google's location page for ELB, you'll see "your rating: *****" (*=stars)
4. click the stars to leave a rating and review

i believe you need a google account, possibly a google+ account to do this. forward to your friends!

Thanks everybody!

RIP Ronald Searle

UK: Ronald Searle
One of the UK's most iconic cartoonists, Ronald Searle, creator of the tear-away girls' school St Trinian's, has died aged 91. The artist died on 30 December in a hospital near his home in southern France. His spiky comic drawings depicting the outrageous antics of the St Trinian's girls, and for his illustrations of the Molesworth series are memorable. Read more

Cooperative Bookstores of the Future

From Sheppard's Confidential


Good news to start the year! On 31 December, Clevedon Community Bookshop, a general second-hand bookshop, opened its doors. Located in Copse Road, Clevedon, in North Somerset, this new co-operative bookshop has taken over the premises from which Clevedon Books traded. The previous owners, Wendy and George Douthwaite, are continuing to trade on the Internet.
  When, early in 2011, they indicated plans to close, a group of people through Clevedon Society of Friends (Quakers) and Transition Clevedon got together to consider ways in which the shop might be saved. Angela Everitt, formerly of ReadingLasses in Wigtown, who had recently moved to Clevedon, knew of the difficulties in developing a sustainable profit-making business and looked for ways to run the Bookshop as a 'not-for-profit' social enterprise.
  Researches revealed that, in the UK, over 150 village shops are run as community co-operatives owned by the people of the village. Contact was made with The Plunkett Foundation which supports such shops, and through the Co-operative Business Hub, the Clevedon group was offered support from the Co-operative Development Agency in Bristol to establish the organisational structure, to register the Community Co-operative with the Financial Services Authority, to develop the business plan and to design the system for funding the start-up costs of the Bookshop.
  In September last year a Public Meeting was held to launch a fund raising campaign. On the night 1650 shares were sold. After wide publicity in the Guardian, The Times, the Independent 'i', through most local papers through the Press Association, and even on the Saturday Radio 4 one o'clock news, the membership of the co-operative has soared to 600 from all over the UK and even as far away as Hong Kong and Japan. £13,000 has been received in share income to fund the setting-up costs; £8,500 has been contributed in interest-free loans; a grant of £1,500 was secured from Co-operatives UK. In addition, local businesses, solicitors, removal firms, the DIY shop, and Co-operative members gave a considerable amount of help to renovate and refurbish the premises. Read more

50% OFF - Huge Sale on Our Online Inventory!

For a limited time only, ALL OF OUR BOOKS UNDER $50.00 that have been online for over a year ARE 50% OFF!!

Book-Hounds: Take advantage of it before we change our minds. If you've had your heart set on something for awhile, chances are it's half-off right now!

The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become. --Mark Twain